Friday, November 24, 2017

Since Anschluss, Crimeans Feel More Crimean But Not More Russian or Ukrainian, Poll Finds

Paul
Goble

Staunton, November 23 – The first
European poll in Crimea since the Russian Anschluss finds that Crimea residents
identify even more as Crimeans than they did earlier but do not feel themselves
to be Russians or consider Russia as their home, an indication that Moscow’s
assimilationist plans have failed at least so far.

Gwendolyn Zasse,
the center’s director, said that after the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian
peninsula, only 12 percent of those surveyed said they had visited other
regions of Ukraine over the last three years; and “more than 40 percent”
indicated that at present, they do not have any contact with their relatives in
other regions of Ukraine.

But at the same time, she continued,
Crimean residents over the same period did not begin going to the Russian
Federation more often either.Fewer than
six percent called Russia their homeland, while less than one percent identified
Ukraine as their native country. Instead, the survey found that being Crimean
had become “ever more important” to residents.

“Many said that this sense of belong
to a Crimean community was just as strong as earlier, but for about 40 percent,
it has acquired greater importance.” This suggests Moscow has been largely
unsuccessful in promoting a Russian identity on the peninsula but also that
Kyiv has devoted insufficient attention the region to counter Russian efforts.

As an RFE/RL
reporter said in reporting on this study, “the Kremlin completely controls only
the territory [of Crimea]; it does not control the minds of Crimeans.” Those
most inclined to support Moscow, he continues, are the elderly – and their
identification with Moscow has more to do with a Soviet identity than a Russian
one.